Freezing eggs at 39 and peri-menopausal

[Curly22]

Hello ladies,

I am wondering whether to have my eggs frozen if possible, even though i'm peri-menopausal and 39. I just really want an honest answer because i would have to self fund the process and would like to know if my chances are high enough. Please be honest

Thanks for you help xx

[Mogwai_2]

Hi there,

Hopefully you have been given basic fertility tests to give an indication of your likely response to IVF stim before you proceed? These are day 3 FSH, LH and ideally AMH (the latter is an indicator of possible response to stim). They can also count the follicles in each ovary.

Nothing but IVF (including fertilisation with sperm and subsequent development) can truly test egg quality, but the more eggs they collect statistically the greater chance of there being a genetically normal one that can create a baby.

I can’t comment on the likely success of egg freezing vs embryo freezing, but may be worth looking into if you haven’t already.

However, what I can say is that I’ve just turned 40 and am having a baby via IVF, so my egg quality didn’t prove to be a problem despite my age (eggs retrieved at 39). Mine was endometriosis. I also have many friends in the same age range that are getting pregnant naturally, albeit it may be taking a wee while longer than it might have in our early 30s.

Good luck with your decision making. I know there are no guarantees with these things, but I guess the ultimate question you need to ask yourself is whether you may regret not giving it a go?

[Curly22 in reply to Mogwai_2]

Hello!

Thank you for your lovely message. Gosh that has summed up everything just perfectly thank you. If i was in a relationship i wouldn't even consider freezing my eggs but just looking at the wider picture i may not meet someone until my early/late forties (if at all) then the chance of possibly conceiving reduces.

I'm having a chat with my GP to hopefully get the blood tests done. I also have endometriosis and fibroids too, so happy to hear your good news.

All the very best to you too xx

[Kirstyes]

Hi. I’m the same age and recently decided that I didn’t want to wait for a guy to have a baby.

I went for fertility tests - AMH and have a low egg reserve so I agree with the other poster that you probably need these tests first. Your GP may not do AMH so you might need to find somewhere privately to look at this. You are probably looking st around £500 to have the scan/blood test and consultation to see if it is a feasibility.

Unfortunately my first round of IVF using donor sperm just failed (I got 2 eggs, only one fertilised but sadly abnormally).

Everyone is different tho but want you to be aware of the initial layout.

Good luck

[Curly22 in reply to Kirstyes]

Thank you Kirstyes, i have just managed to get the amh and fsh tests ordered s that's in the pipeline which is great news. So sorry to hear your IVF failed, what a rotten business it all is. I hope you don't mind me asking but can whether you were told what the 'ideal' result or success percentage was for these tests. and is this the base for going ahead to the stage?

Hope it's ok to ask, just feel completely in a whirlwind with all of this

[Kirstyes in reply to Curly22]

Hi. Here’s my blog post if it’s helpful. I only had a 12% chance. Once you get your results The Lister Clinic has a calculator- although you never know how you are going to respond until you start really.

kirstyes.co.uk/?s=Broody&su...

Good luck with it.

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

I think frozen embryos have better survival rates, would you be willing to use a sperm donor?

[Curly22]

Hi there, i'm not sure yet to be honest, just trying to get as much information as i can before i start the whole process x

[Cinderella5]

I see below that you have managed to get your FSH and AMH tests which will be useful in determining your ovarian reserve. When I was 38 min came back as 7.19. We did 3 cycles of IVF and we got between 6-9 eggs on each cycle. Unfortunately out of these eggs only 3 made it to the preferred blastocyst stage (this is after 5 days in the incubator after they have been fertilised), all of the others stopped developing. Unfortunately we didnt achieve a pregnancy and we got told it was due to egg quality/ my age. There is no way of determining if eggs are of good quality by just looking at them, they can only tell if there is something obviously wrong by colour etc and we only had one of those in all the cycles. We have moved onto using donor eggs at a clinic abroad as its a bit cheaper and we got 6 blastocysts in one cycle which proved the Dr's theory that my eggs were no good. This also another option you could consider later in life if you dont freeze your eggs. However a have seen a few lucky ladies on here having pregnancies at with their own eggs. The egg freezing thing, well from what Ive heard you need good numbers so you may have to do a few cycles depending on how you respond to meds which could be expensive. Also that frozen embryos defrost better than frozen eggs so you could even use a sperm donor to fertilise the eggs to become embryos to freeze and used when you are ready to have a baby. Sorry if Ive bombarded you with too much info. There's so many options out there!xx